A/N: Hey all! Guess what I finished today instead of doing my homework? That's right, this chapter! This chapter is kind of a filler, but the point is mostly to introduce Adachi's character. I'm starting to think this story could be 4 or 5 chapters, instead of 2 or 3, but we'll see. Thank you everyone for the reviews, they made me smile so much, and kept me motivated for writing this! Stick around for the notes at the end.
"What? Who found another what?" the confusion in Adachi Hiroto's voice was characteristically simple, and Seta laughed out loud.
"Turn on your TV right now, Adachi. Channel 8."
There was a pause as the other man complied.
"I'll assume you didn't call me about Hello Panda! cookies?" Adachi asked. Seta could tell his friend was barely restraining laughter. He glanced at the screen, which was currently playing an ad for snacks, portraying several adorable chibi pandas playing various sports.
"Oh no, I thought you'd be interested. The jingle's so catchy and all, and you always did like cookies." he deadpanned. Now Seta could plainly hear the giggles on the other end of the line. Some things never changed. The television returned to the game. Seta could almost feel Adachi's eyes widening. The guy was probably bouncing on his toes right now.
"Is that Karasuno?!"
"Yep."
"They haven't been to Nationals since my 3rd year, right?"
"That's right. Well, until now anyway!"
After a whoop, the ace was silent, watching the game intently.
"I like the little one. He has my number!" he said, chuckling, as #10 jumped with the other blockers, and made a one touch. Seta chuckled as well.
"Keep an eye on him."
When the insane quick finally happened again, Adachi made a tiny sound, somewhere between a gasp and a cheer. The ball hit #10's palm and then thwacked into the court, fast as thought. Seta envisioned Adachi clenching his fist as he imagined hitting a spike like that, and feeling the sting in his hand. He could nearly feel the waves of excitement through the phone. The ace's eyes were probably glowing with intensity, bright and olive green.
"You weren't kidding." Adachi said in a minute, in a familiar quiet but energetic tone that confirmed Seta's suspicions.
For the rest of the game they switched to video chat to keep their phone bills to a minimum.
"It seems like Karasuno's found its wings again." Adachi said, smirking in the odd way he always did when he was thinking while excited. The game had been close, but Karasuno had won. They were on to the second match of Nationals.
"Hey, Seta..." Adachi said slowly. Seta sighed, knowing that this tone of voice generally proceeded some kind of plea.
"Spit it out, Adachi."
"I was just thinking...You wanna go to Tokyo? Like, tomorrow?"
"We can't just go to Tokyo."
"We're grown men, we can do what we want."
"Adachi."
"Come oooon! I know you've always wanted to spectate at Nationals!"
"I've got a paper due Wednesday."
"If I know you, you're already half done with it, and now you're just procrastinating the rest. You could have it done today if you wanted. Come on, I'll get some of the others to come, we'll all go get pork buns somewhere, it'll be fun!"
"Don't you have class or something tomorrow?"
"Sheesh, Seta, what happened to you? You used to be fun!"
Seta knew it wouldn't take much more nagging for him to agree. Truth be told he wanted to go. It had been ages since he'd seen any of his friends, and ages since he'd watched a volleyball game live. And Adachi was right, he really had always wanted to watch the Nationals live.
'What did happen to me anyway?' he wondered. In high school he would have been down for this almost immediately. There was a moment of panic as Seta wondered if he was becoming an uptight sort of adult in spite of himself. He shuddered at the very thought, then laughed inwardly. He'd probably been resisting simply because it had been so long since he'd competed against Adachi about anything. Grinning, Seta gave up.
"You know, Adachi, that's a good question. I have no idea. You win. But if we're gonna be inviting people to visit Tokyo with less than 24 hours warning, we'd better do it sooner than later."
Adachi shouted victoriously, and the two began making arrangements. A group email was sent to various classmates and kouhai, and soon enough replies came in. Most of their ex-teammates couldn't make it on such short notice, but a few enthusiastically agreed, and a few said they'd try. Having finished working out a rendezvous point with everyone, Seta stretched out on the couch with a grin and reflected on the morning's work. Tomorrow was going to be fun.
A/N: Sorry, this chapter isn't my best work. I just figured I'd post it no matter how bad it is atm. Either way, I think it did its job, which was to establish Adachi's character and how he and Seta interact.
Speaking of, how many of you would read a spin-off of this fic about Adachi Hiroto joining Karasuno, and his journey through High School? Including things like how he got the nickname "Small Giant", how he developed his playing style, and how he became the ace. Featuring Seta Toshiro, appearances by Younger!Ukai Keishin, possible cameos by Tanaka Saeko, and probably speaking roles/angst from Tsukishima Akiteru.
Let me know in the reviews! Pretty please R&R!